Kenbosho
by EpikalStorms
Summary: In the game, you start out with Black. He's got no background story, and no idea of his life. He's introduced to his friends, and his own mother; his town, Nuvema. What if there was a reason for that? What of Black, Kuro, had... amnesia? This is Kuro, taken in by Heiko Shirosaki(Mom). He's got a few medical problems, but he WILL be the best Pokemon trainer Unova has ever seen.
1. Genesis

_**Chapter One: Genesis**_

* * *

Have you ever woke up and found that your mind was entirely _blank_? That, no matter how hard you tried, you couldn't recall anything? Absolutely nothing? That you couldn't remember even a single thing? Not your name, not what you looked like, where you came from, where you _where_, who was close to you—if anyone _was_... Not a thing. Have you ever had that happen?

Not many have. Of course, it isn't rare—really, it's happened to a whole group of people—but it just goes to say that, most likely, if you're reading this now, you haven't had that happen to you.

It's called amnesia. It's a condition that has to do with your mind, your memories. Memories are something that's important to us, even the ones we've convinced ourselves we _want_ to forget. Yes, even those we tend to hold close, if subconsciously at best. Memories make us who we are, they always have a hand in how we decide things, what we do, how we act, what choices we make depending on anything. It all has to do with our memories, whether we know it, or not. Like it, or not. Want it, or not.

To loose your memories completely—it's like loosing yourself. Loosing who you are, what makes you you. It's like... your whole world.

But when you loose that much, loose _everything_ like that, and you don't even _remember_ loosing it in the first place—that you can't even remember what you _lost_, you don't even know what you _had_—that's what really hits, before all else, when you wake up and find that everything's just... gone.

It's not there. You don't know where it went, or how to find it. Hell, you don't even know where it should go if you ever do. You don't know where to start looking for it, you don't know where you _are_...

The first thing you feel? Your memories are gone, now, you don't remember the name of this feeling, this emotion. What's it called?

It's called _misery_.

You're miserable. You can't recall anything. Who are you? What were you? Did you have anyone? Did anyone even miss you?

That second feeling? Yeah, it's called loneliness.

Then you feel a whole rush of emotions. Panic, you start to breath too fast. Breathlessness, you're light-headed. Then puzzlement—you don't know if that light-headiness is because your mind's been wiped completely clean, or your breaths are coming in short gasps and not enough oxygen is getting to your brain. You don't know, you can' tell. The next feeling you begin to feel is hopelessness. You can't tell, what else can't you tell? You can't tell what had happened to make you like this, because you don't _remember—_Then you feel pain, from whatever had happened to make your mind a blank slate, to make you absolutely _nobody_—which brings on confusion, because shouldn't you have felt the pain first thing?

No, because, before anything, before the misery, all you felt was _numb_.

**(-_Pokemon_**~

Nuvema town was at the very bottom of the Unova region, right there before Route 18 and everything. People came here to relax, to forget about their worries; they came here when they wanted everything to slow down. It was refreshing, if anything. Nuvema was a place where you could just sit back and watch the clouds roll by and not have that lingering feeling that you knew you were forgetting something important that you should be doing. It was a place you didn't have to worry. Nothing really happened here. There wasn't a gym, there was just other people that you could meet with and converse and make connections, perhaps for just the sake of making friends. The people who lived in the coastal town were kind, they were hospitable, and everything was fabulous.

Anywhere in Unova you went, you would hear people talking about the wonders of the bridges, or the amazement of walking through Castelia City for the first time, or the utter awe-inspiring site of the Pokemon League; the challenge of Victory Road; the sweet simplicity of Driftveil; the entertaining walks through Nimbasa as you greet and watch the street performers and many other enjoyments; the soothing scenery of the White Forest; even the historical beauty and interesting past of the City of Opelucid.

You won't hear any amazing, awesome tales about Nuvema Town, and that's what makes it so attractive. It's normal, it's just so _not there_. Sometimes, people just don't want to do anything, and they want someplace to go and not do it where it's okay to do nothing at all. That's the beauty of Nuvema Town. Endless days of refreshing _nada_, and you're still able to enjoy and live life to the fullest.

Today, though—and not even too unfortunately, either—was not one of those days. In fact, those days wouldn't really fully return for a few years after today at all.

Of course, our wonderful townspeople were not aware of the inevitable change that was fast approaching their lives.

"Hey, hey, Heiko!" A tall man with a full head of dark navy hair waved his way over to the aforementioned woman, who was outside of her home doing the days laundry. She had pretty chocolate-colored hair that was pulled back in a tight ponytail that started at the base of her neck, pale skin, and gorgeous blue eyes. Heiko Shirosaki lived alone in a rather nice house that sat towards the center of the town. She was actually relatively new around Unova—she had moved from the Sinnoh region after the death of her sister Clarence in search of a fresh start—and was a very sweet young woman, liked by the rest of the townspeople for her charisma and endless kindness, even if she was a little reserved about her past. She had journeyed about a year or two through the region of Unova once she had moved and had met a kind man named Eiji Shirosaki, whom she had married. Unfortunately, the two had lived in Driftveil City for a few months, where Eiji had been employed in the Cold Storage, when the man had been tragically lost in an accident at work. Then, Heiko quit the Pokemon Training business and had settled down in Nuvema Town, where she was now with many friends and had a steady lifestyle.

Heiko turned, and smiled, setting down the sheet she'd been pulling off of the line that ran across her back yard, just like any other yard you could find in Nuvema. "Aah, Josept. Hello."

Josept Suzuki was a jolly young man, married to the beautiful blond Clara Suzuki. They had a adorable young daughter named Bianca, who, as aloof as she was, was endearing to Heiko, who enjoyed talking with the girl. "How are you this fine morning?"

Yes. It was a beautiful day, the sun just rising over the calm waves of the coastline, the fresh air whirling around them and the few clouds in the sky dancing around each other. It was early summer, now, so you could smell the many aromas that accompanied the season. Flowers, nectar, grass, the smells that flew through the wind were almost exotic but still homey. It was an amazing thing. "I'm great, actually. The day is still early, and you can just tell it's going to be gorgeous outside."

Josept chuckled, helping her gather the rest of the laundry. "Absolutely. My dear little Bianca just can't wait to get outside to play."

"Yes," Heiko laughed. "And she'll most likely badger that poor Cheren into joining her."

"The boy's too serious all the time, he could use someone like my Bianca to get him up and living. Some childhood fun will do him some good, especially for the future. Character building, you know."

"You just want all the kids in town as adorable and care-free as Bianca," she teased.

He grinned, raising his hands. "Guilty." He didn't sound at all sorry, either, and Heiko didn't resist another laugh.

The two finished the laundry, and Heiko turned to Josept and thanked him for the help. "But," she finished, as he gave her his welcome. "You should hurry back home now—we won't want poor Clara getting paranoid now would we? It'll be the talk of the town," she went on as she turned to go inside. "The poor girl's husband cheating on her with the less-than-beautiful new girl."

"You're more than beautiful," Josept argued," and not so new anymore, huh?" Then he grinned. "But, yeah, you're right. Clare-bear misses me something terribly by now, I should think!"

Heiko chuckled, rolling her eyes. She set the basket of clean laundry just inside the front door before swatting one of the freshly washed towels at the man's hands. "Get, you." She teased.

"I'm getting, I'm getting!"

Heiko shook her head and watched Josept run away in mock fear with a twitch on her lips. She turned, when he was gone, back to the door and grabbed the basket once more before entering the house. As she walked, she couldn't help but contemplate her friend Josept. His daughter Bianca was simply too cute. Heiko had always wanted children to look after—she'd gotten many compliments over the years, people telling her what a great mother she would make—but she just didn't feel right about marrying again after what had happened with Eiji. She missed him dearly, but she knew early on that she wouldn't get anywhere if she'd stayed around and sulked and never stopped mourning. Sure, he'd been a downright amazing guy, but things happened, and there's no way to stop them, especially once they'd happened. She'd promised herself a full two weeks of mourning, and had then done her best to get over it. She knew that was what Eiji would have wanted.

Heiko set the basket next to the couch in the living room and made her way to the kitchen. She'd fold the laundry and put it away later. But once she got to the tiled room, she had to resist to urge to either groan, shake her head, or chuckle in slight amusement. "Oono-san. I shouldn't be surprised. Of course, I must always ask—why can't you eat breakfast in your own home?"

"Ano, Heiko-_chan_!" Ravi whined slightly. He was such a child sometimes. "Shirosaki-san's meals are the best! I just can't stay away!"

Heiko raised an eyebrow quizzically, even though they did this every morning. "And you need to break into my house for that?"

He hugged the pillow of the seat to his chest, looking at her indignantly. "I did not break in," he stressed. "Breaking in to someone's home is illegal! I was congregating to a friend's abode, perhaps without permission.." He gave her a sheepish look, despite giving the same excuse every singly day.

Heiko sighed. Continuing to the fridge. "The oatmeal cookies are in the pantry. You know where to go."

And he did, unfortunately. Ravi Oono gave her a charming grin and dashed out of the kitchen to the pantry that resided down the hall. No matter how many times she fended the slightly-infuriating but endearing teen off, he always found a way to come back. Heiko would have turned him in for harassment if she didn't care about him so much. He was seventeen, without parents and living with his grandmother. She felt some pity for him—plus, his smiles always managed to brighten anybody's day. Of course, it was still annoying traits like these that she grudgingly let slide, but still protested against halfheartedly—and everyone knew it, including Ravi. Every morning, like clockwork, Ravi would somehow end up sitting at her dining room table, waiting to be served breakfast. Heiko wasn't quite. sure how this began, but it was how their relationship was, now. Sometimes, Ravi came for lunch and other times dinner as well, but it was always, always, breakfast. Most times, she'd wake up, get ready for the day, and know tat if she walked downstairs to the kitchen, Ravi would be right there. And he always was, when she finally did.

Somedays she couldn't help but be grateful. It was always a constant in her new life, now, to see Ravi look up at her and smile, every morning. It was a great start to the day, at least. And she trusted him not to do anything in her home. He was a good kid.

Heaving a short sigh that didn't really signify any feeling whatsoever, Heiko reached under the counter and lifted up a frying pan. She turned the stove on high and opened the fridge to get some eggs. She didn't know why, really, Ravi called her cooking the best. It seemed like a troublesome effort, to her, in the least. Her methods was quite simple; crack the eggs, throw in some seasoning, then get the whole thing done as fast as possible with the eggs still edible in the end. Sure, cooking was fun _sometimes_, but tat didn't mean she enjoyed doing it every meal every day. Still, her cooking got compliments left and right when she did. She supposed it was just one of those things in life that just _was_.

After the eggs had finished cooking, she flipped the sizzling omelet onto a plate and turned the stove off. She set the pan in the sink and sprinkled some salt over her breakfast before sitting down at the table in Ravi's previously occupied chair with a glass of milk and a bowl of sliced fruit, along with a slice of toast.

As she ate her breakfast, she heard her back door, which was located in the kitchen, open behind her. She turned and smiled at the man who walked in. "Ah, Ando-san, good morning!"

The coffee haired veteran Trainer smiled at her, tugging the collar of his black trench coat up. Heiko had to wonder how on earth the man wasn't too hot in that, he wore it every day! "Ohaiyo, Shirosaki-san. How are you this fine morning."

She nodded, taking a bit of a small slice of watermelon. "I'm good. Are you going on your early morning walk on the shore?" Every morning, without fail, Ando Kuwabara went out for a three hour long walk on the beach. He loved the sea, and everyone said it was because he used water-type Pokemon—but Heiko was almost certain it was because Ando had used to be a sailor. He's told her it had been an occupation he'd enjoyed, but he felt that, even as young as he was, it had been a good time to retire. He was a quiet man, but he took that saying "Quit while you're ahead," to heart. It wasn't much, he definitely looked more relaxed each and every day that had passed since his arrival in Nuvema. "Yes, I am. I decided to stop by for something to eat first, if that's alright?"

Heiko smiled. Of course, it was known throughout town that if you wanted food or even a quick snack, you should head to her home and ask. Even though Heiko didn't enjoy cooking all that much, she was glad to fill the hungry stomach of anyone that had the backbone to ask, which was everyone, nowadays. "Sure, thing. Just let me finish my food, and I'll whip you up a quick breakfast."

Kuwabara gave a short bow. "I apologize for intruding so early in the morning and giving you such trouble, Shirosaki-san."

Heiko let out a huff. For all his quiet nature, Ando was certainly too polite for his own good. She waved her and as he polished off her omelet. "Don't bother. You tend to do this every other morning anyway, a bit like Oono, actually. It's fine. And I've told you to call me Heiko, "Shirosaki-san" makes me feel old!" She stood up and Kuwabara helped her take her dishes over to the sink. She sighed, not bothering to shoo him away from washing the dishes as he had already began to. She'd stopped trying ages ago. Opening the fridge, she cast him a glance. "What would you like today? Does fruit salad sound okay? I don't think I want to cook another egg today, sorry."

Ando shook his head. "No, fruit sounds fine. I always eat light before a walk anyway. I don't want to bother you."

Heiko rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh, okay. I'll cut them up and you just sit at the table when you're done with the dishes—which you didn't _have_ to do, you know."

Ando, glanced at the floor—goodness, that man was shy—and shrugged, nonetheless. "It's alright, I wanted to. It makes less work for you later, anyway."

Heiko sighed. "I know..." She muttered. Soon, she'd finished cutting the fruit and set the knife in the sink. Ando immediately reached to pick it up, but she swatted his hand away. "Nu-huh. You've already finished, what did I tell you? You were supposed to sit down when you were done, I've got the knife myself. Here," she handed him the bowl of fruit, and he wordlessly slipping into the chair at the table and began to eat, slowly. Heiko busied herself with rubbing the soap suds over the edge of the knife, careful not to cut her fingers.

Just as she had finished stowing the knife away in one of the higher cupboards, she heard the sound of chair legs scrapping against the tiled floor almost soundlessly. _Looks like Ando-san's finished... Eto, he always heats so fast!_ Everything Ando did was silent, even his footsteps. She didn't even know he'd walked over to the sink until he'd turned on the faucet and began to rinse his dish. Heiko sighed. "I could have done that for you. You should go get to your walk."

He shrugged. "I wanted to do it for you—after all I'm the one who ate from it, it's only fair."

Ando was one of the most reserved guys that Heiko knew, but she still couldn't grasp why. He was relatively shy for a veteran Pokemon Trainer, perhaps that was why he frequented Nuvema town. She took the bowl from him after he'd finished and went to put it away. Again, she didn't even hear his footsteps, but she did hear the screen door opening again as he went to leave. "Ah! Ando-san, have a nice walk!" She ran over to the door and waved. He didn't even turn around, already half way down the path, but he lifted a hand over his shoulder in acknowledgment to her farewell. She let out a breath and closed the door. Heiko leaned against the doorway and cast a glance out the window that was right next to it, watching as the sun climbed into the beautiful blue sky. She heard Ravi bustling around somewhere in the living room, listening to the morning birds chirp as he always did after breakfast, and sighed. Today was going to be the same. That was great, she wasn't extremely too fond of change.

And, the same as everyone else in Nuvema town, she didn't know how wrong she was.

**(-_Pokemon_**~

Ando Kuwabara walked away from Shirosaki-san's home feeling slightly guilt. He always asked so much from her, it was a good thing she was a kind, giving, and very sweet person. Even though she was young, his age, and had lost so much, she was still cheerful and relaxed. Nothing like him, who, at the same age as the young woman—who was twenty-seven—was slightly sullen and silent, perhaps a bit sulky. He hadn't really anything to call his own before, and he's never really had anyone to love, so he wasn't sure what he was feeling—but he thought he might be in love with Shirosaki-san. It made him flinch just to think it—Shirosaki-san wouldn't love anyone like _him_. Despite her gentle-nature and overall kindness, he saw her being just as friendly with everyone else. He knew that she didn't like him, but kept it on the inside. No one in Nuvema—no one in the entire of the Unova region liked _him_. He was a shady character. Given, most veteran Trainers were slightly shady-looking, dressed in their darker shades while all the young aspiring Trainers were decked out in cheerful brighter colors, but he just couldn't shake off the notion that he wasn't good enough for anyone, least of all Shirosaki.

Perhaps it was from growing up with slightly abusive parents, in a rundown city in Jhoto, but still. NO one was kind to him just because he was him, right? There weren't people like that, everyone wanted _something_, most likely even Shirosaki-san. But even if Shirosaki-san wanted something from him in exchange for her kindness, he'd gladly give it to her. Maybe it was the fluttering, nervous feeling he got around her, or just the fact that she was so giving, but he would. If she asked him to, he would.

Ando shook his head. He didn't come out here to sulk like he always did. The mornings in Nuvema Town were meant to be spent thinking about nothing. The air was just right to relax almost completely, even if it was a little harder for him to than everyone else. He _liked_ Nuvema town, it was so utterly peaceful here. Every other city in Unova he'd been to—which were most all of them, since he'd challenged the Pokemon League like any other Trainer, and had needed the gym badges for that—had an overshadowing tense feeling behind the cheerful or busy lifestyle. It was due to Pokemon battling and the dream of becoming the best, and the gym stationed in almost each and every town on the west side of Unova, leading up to the League. Of course, Nuvema had, just like any other inhabited place on earth, Pokemon battles, Trainers and such—but the tense feeling of aspiring dreams wasn't there. For anyone anywhere, Nuvema truly was the best vacation spot.

He also liked the quite, and the way the townspeople dealt with life and each other so smoothly, just slid by, went with the flow of things and never seemed to trip up. Like he often did, but really, he liked it. He was a quiet person by nature, maybe it was beat into him early on, but now he just kind of preferred it that way. He was shy, there wasn't a reason not to admit that, he'd even been told so multiple times by the others in Nuvema and elsewhere. He didn't really mind, it was the truth, and he appreciated that they weren't to withdrawn from him to point it out. He lived a guarded life, but somehow, Nuvema was changing that and he was opening up, even if he almost didn't want to.

He supposed it might be for the better.

Maybe Shirosaki-san and the others didn't want anything after all. Ando shook his head and continued on. He wouldn't really know unless he was to ask, and he was far too shy for that. It was best to just let things go as they had been.

The veteran Trainer felt one of the pokeballs that he kept closest start to shake and shutter. The Pokemon inside was either startled by something extremely dangerous or in serious panic. He quickly let the Espeon, Violet, out and stared at her. Violet was, admittedly, his favorite and first Pokemon. They had been together for _years_, and she was normally very cool and collected, very calm. He wondered what had her so suddenly bristling like a cat. In fact, once Violet had been let out, the two other Pokemon he had on him, a Voltikk and a Herdier, began to shift nervously.

Violet sent her Trainer a look that said something important had caught her attention and that he needed to see it right _now_. Ando took in a breath. This had only happened once before—it was when he had first started out as a Trainer, a few month after he'd run away from his so-called parents. His angry father had somehow tracked him down, and had almost caught him if it hadn't been for Violet, who had alerted him in time for him to run away. That night when he'd been fourteen, hiding behind that rock and watching the displeased man curse and look around for him, had been the very last time Ando had ever seen either of his parents, thankfully. He hoped to keep it that way...

Sucking in a deep breath, Ando gathered his wits and dashed after violet, who had began to run off down the beach toward something in the distance. He really, really hoped it wasn't anything that he thought it was.

It wasn't. In Ando's opinion, it might have been a slight relief if the thing that caught Violet's attention wasn't so worrying, wasn't an unconscious child, just lying there in the sand with the waves just barely reaching and lapping at his toes.

Ando's honey-colored eyes widened in surprise and he panicked, kneeling down next to the child and pushing the much younger male onto his back. The boy couldn't have been even half his own age, and he was dressed entirely in black and some shades of gray. He wore a trench coat, but it wasn't like that of a veteran, plus the kid was way to young. Ando saw a black typical Trainer's hat lying a few feet away, half covered by sand. When he looked back at the kid he now held in his arms, he saw there was a nasty gash on the back of his head. It looked very deep and was bleeding profusely. Ando knew it was serious, and his breath caught in his throat. He had to hurry back to the town. He'd been away for four hours, now, which was much longer than usual, and it was a bit of a hike back, but he knew he could make it if he hurried fast enough. Plus, Shirosaki-san might know what to do in the meantime that the ambulance from the Nuvema Town hospital came.

Gathering the young boy, who couldn't even be more than ten or eleven, in his arms, Ando began to run back down the shore in the direction he'd come, clutching the boy to his chest so he didn't jostle any other wound she might have. Violet followed behind him, the boy's hat in her mouth.

**(-_Pokemon_**~

Josept smiled at his beautiful wife, Clara. She was the most amazing woman in the world, without a doubt, and he was incredibly lucky to be able to call her his. The sunny-haired woman just smiled back at him and turned back to scold his dear Bianca for going to far into the tall grass.

"But mom, I can't become a Pokemon Trainer if I don't have any Pokemon!" The small blond girl complained, and Josept allowed a small twitch present at the corner of his brow for a just a millisecond. That was the one, small, problem in his otherwise perfect life in Nuvema Town—his dear, sweet, innocent, perfect little impressionable Bianca angel wanted to become a Pokemon Trainer. He swore it was all the Ueda kid's fault. Cheren was such a bad influence on his little angel, he knew he should have never let Bianca near that stoic, too-serious child! His Bianca, a Pokemon Trainer—it was way to dangerous, she could get hurt!

Clara flashed him a sharp, green-eyes look like she knew _exactly_ what he was thinking—Josept flinched, as she most likely _did_, somehow—and the man sighed. He backtracked his thoughts and shook his head as Bianca continued to attempt at convincing her mother to let her into the tall grass where the Pokemon hid. He knew it wasn't Cheren Ueda's fault—the kid was way too mature, though—but he had wanted _someone_ to blame. He couldn't bear the thought of his dear Bianca journeying through the Unova region, most likely alone, training with the Pokemon and battling other Trainers. The very idea made him swallow, hard. Still, Bianca had to grow up sometime. That didn't mean he had to like it.

Clara smiled in approval, and Josept had to wonder if woman really did have mysterious mind reading abilities—and ushered Bianca out of the room. The girl was still whining, but it was incessant and slightly annoying like that Oono kid's. Josept shook his head and turned around. Ah well, kids will be kids...

He stood up and made his way back to Heiko-san's home. As he walked up the path to the door, he looked around and frowned slightly, something wasn't right. It was half-past noon now, and Ando Kuwabara still wasn't back from his morning walk. He usually only stayed out for around two or three ours each morning, and came back to hang around Heiko-san and the others. Cheren and Bianca absolutely loved him, and the rest of the townspeople adored him and his shy and quiet nature. He always seemed so guarded and slightly regressive, though, and everyone wondered why. They left him alone, though, even if it was beginning concerning them sometimes. He deserved his privacy just like everyone else.

"Ano, Heiko," he called as he stepped over her threshold. Everyone in Nuvema knew about Heiko Shirosaki's open-door policy. As long as they didn't do anything worth frowning at, anyone was welcome to let themselves in. "Has Ando-san come back yet?"

"No," he could hear the frown in her voice as she walked over to meet him in the entrance hall. "It's strange, he's usually back by now. Do you think something happened? I'm getting a bit worried."

"It might be nothing," he offered, but they were both still frowning. It wasn't like Ando Kuwabara to be late. If anything, he was almost always on time. Like clockwork, he was completely punctual. It almost scared some people, in a humorous way, though.

Heiko sighed. "I don't know..." She looked up. "Eto.. Oono-san! Come out here so we can talk to you!"

The call was prompt and cheerful. "As always, my beautiful Heiko-_chan_!" The teen charmingly called. Heiko rolled her eyes, but they still held concern. Ravi skipped into the entryway. "You rang?"

"Did you see Ando-san come back, yet? I don't think he's returned... Did you see him anywhere?"

Ravi's green eyes lit up in surprise. Ando was almost notorious for being timely. "Aah, no. I haven't. Should we go and look for him?" Suddenly, he was all smiles again. "You know, I bet he just fell asleep under a nice palm tree or something. Nothing to worry about, Heiko-_chan_!"

Josept sent the kid a look, coupled with a frown. "There aren't any palm trees on this side of the coast, Ravi-kun." Ravi's smile fell slightly, and Josept turned back to Heiko. "I'll go and ask Clara or Bianca if they saw him come home yet. Cheren and Bianca were out playing earlier, they might have seen him."

The woman nodded, glancing around distractedly. Ravi nodded and dashed out of the house, yelling over his shoulder. "I'll ask the others, too!" Heiko waved, and peered anxiously out the window. She hoped nothing was wrong. Josept sent her a nod and left the house, and Heiko sat down in a chair in the kitchen, feeling useless. Ando might be in trouble and she wasn't doing anything to help him at all! The young woman wrung her hands together, then began to play with the hem of her blouse.

She wasn't going to deny it, especially in her own mind in the least. Ando had become very important to her in the past years she'd known him. He was a constant now, a bit like Ravi, but she felt something deeper with him. She was a bit afraid to name it, especially after Eiji. She was also afraid to wait to long into it—the feeling might mute or disappear suddenly someday for some reason, or Ando would go away from Nuvema and not come back, he was known for traveling extensively after all, and he wasn't really in Nuvema to stay. She enjoyed his company, and kind of wanted to help him in his trust issues, which were there, she knew. It was a bit obvious to everyone in the town that Ando-san wasn't very up for trusting people. They all liked to think he was their friends and they his, but he was so shy and reserved, it was worrying sometimes. They all cared about him, everyone adored him, really. If it was possible for a twenty-seven-year-old man to appear adorable, Ando Kuwabara had managed to pull it off, and it did nothing to hinder his image. He was amazing at Pokemon battles as well.

Heiko shook her head, letting her hands fall into her lap. What was she thinking? Ando probably didn't even think of her like that. It was best not to dwell on it.

A loud, if slightly hesitant, knock on the back door made Heiko jump nearly out of her skin. "Hei—Shirosaki-san!?" Was that Ando? She felt relief flood into her, but stilled. That was strange, he doesn't normally sound so expressive. Actually, he sounded kind of panicked. And... had he almost called her _Heiko_? "Shirosaki-san! Please open the door, I really need help! I don't know what to do!"

Heiko's eyes widened and she literally flew to the back door, wrenching it open. "Ando-san—!"

Ando had probably been leaning on the door frame, and when Heiko had opened the door, he fell through the entrance. "A-Ah!"

"Ando!? Are you—" Heiko froze when she saw what—or whom—the man had in his arms. "Oh my god! Who is that? Is that _blood_?!"

Ando stood up quickly. "Please, Shirosaki-san, we have to hurry! He has a deep injury on the back of his head and it's bleeding very badly. Can you please call the hospital and have them send an ambulance here?" Heiko nodded dumbly, still staring down at the child cradled in the man's arms. "Shirosaki-san! I apologize to intruding into your home and shouting at you, but please, could you hurry?" Ando pleaded, his golden eyes wide. That snapped Heiko out of her daze and she turned to face Ando. His eyes were normally shaded by his bangs, and they really were gorgeous, but she tore her own eyes away and ran out into the hallway, grabbing the phone. After she ordered an ambulance to come to her home, she rushed back to the kitchen, slightly breathless. "Ando, I'm going to go get Josept and some others to help, alright?" Ando only nodded, tightening a his grip on the child as he pressed a washcloth firmly over the boy's head wound. Heiko only briefly wondered where he'd learned to care for such injuries before flying out the back door and dashing over to the Suzuki's yard.

Ando sat on the floor of the kitchen, hovering over the boy's motionless figure. He hoped they weren't too late, the kid was loosing enough blood as it was.

**(-_Pokemon_**~

By the time the ambulance arrived, a crowed had gather in and out of Heiko Shirosaki's house to see the mysterious boy that Ando had found unconscious and injured on the beach. Ando had told them what had happened as he tended, best he was able, to the wound. The others put their heads together and concluded that the child hadn't been washed ashore by the waves, as he wasn't wet at all, and the clothes he was wearing had no residue salt from dried seawater. Only the toes of the by's boots were in any way damp, and that was because of the waves that had been lapping at them when the ocean was at high tide.

Honestly, they hadn't a clue, a vaguest idea of where the boy had com from. Ando and Heiko had climbed into the car with the paramedics and Josept, Clara, Ravi, and Cheren and Bianca and the rest of the townspeople watched the ambulance zoom away.

None of them knew at the moment, but nothing in Nuvema would be quite the same for a long, long while after that.

**(-_Pokemon_**~

Heiko sat next to Ando in the hospital lobby nervously, thinking things over. She was painfully curious about the boy, but extremely concerned as well. She wanted to know, desperately, what had happened to him and how he'd been hurt. Had someone done it to him? How could someone hurt a _child_? She shook her head, it couldn't have been that. The boy must have just had an accident with the rocks or something. It never occurred to her, after that, that Ando had told them there were no such rocks within the boy's vicinity.

It also never occurred to her, until much, much later when she was told exactly what type of life Ando Kuwabara had had as a child, that Ando was currently, right now, stuck on the though of the first idea. That wound on the back of the child's head, when he'd found him, even, did not come from a rock. No, Ando had seen that wound _so many times _before_. _It couldn't be from anything but a _knife_, it was so clean, so precise.

He felt a shiver run down his spine, and he didn't even notice Heiko grab his hand for her own comfort, he was too lost in his thoughts. He really hoped what happened to him once, many times, hadn't happened to the boy he'd found. He really, really didn't.

He didn't want that to happen to anyone else. It was bad enough it had happened to him.

A doctor came out then. They'd been sitting there for about two hours in silence. "Shirosaki-san, Kuwabara-san. This way, please." Dr. Haruto Akiyama smiled. He was a nice young man, with onyx hair that fit the round shape of his head, and sparkling bright green eyes. He usually had a gold piercing, a small hoop, at the top of his left ear, but he didn't wear that when he was working sifts at the hospital. He was twenty-three and fresh out of med school, but the whole town loved him and his work.

Ando and Heiko stood up and followed the young doctor to a room in the ICU. Before they entered, Haruto turned to them with a serious expression on his face. "Before we go in, there are some things you should know. They're important, and they aren't good news either. Please prepare yourselves."

Heiko and Ando exchanged alarmed looks before turning back to him and nodding.

"Alright. One, he doesn't talk. I think he might be mute." Heiko's eyes widened and Ando bit his lip. "Though I don't believe it's because anything medical-wise. It seems to be selective, most likely due to trauma." He eyed them. "Can I go on?" They nodded, and he took in a breath. "Also, by communicating through other means aside from speech, I've learned that he had amnesia."

Heiko felt her breath get stolen away and her shoulders slumped in stunned disbelief. "Amnesia?" She croaked. Ando observed them both with wide golden eyes.

"Amnesia," Haruto nodded seriously. "A complete wipe, too. He's a total blank slate, he doesn't even know his own name. Not where he came from, his age, what happened, nothing. I think it's due to the head wound, mostly, and I don't see any way of retrieving those memories. Overall, the wound didn't affect much else, so that's that."

Green eyes peered up at them, since Haruto was a good inch shorter. "That's really all you need to know immediately, right off the bat. There are some other things that I think you might find noteworthy and important, but I'll tell you in the room."

"Okay, just.. just give me a minute to digest this, alright?" Heiko took in a few breathes, and the two men watched silently. Ando's mind was in turmoil, he wasn't sure what to think. All he was really sure of what that, now, they would never, none of them, find out what had truly happened on that beach and how the boy had ended up like that.

Heiko was grasping at straws here. She couldn't come up with anything to make sense of this. Things had been so peaceful, so... it was Nuvema town, nothing was ever suppose to happen here. Ad then, this boy just falls into her life... Though, she did feel extremely sorry for the kid. To wake up one day in a place you don't recognize, and don't remember anything about _anything_, that was _terrible_. And knowing that, if only you could remember, you might even know where you had woken up... She didn't think she'd be able to take that. "Okay. I think I'm good, Let's go."

They entered the room, and Heiko was absolutely, utterly impressed.

The boy sat straight up n the bed, hands folded in front of him. He had very pale skin and long, onyx hair darker than even Haruto's. It reached his shoulder-blades and was pulled back in a low ponytail a the nape of his neck. Stunning violet eyes peered over at them, and she was stunned to see they didn't really hold any emotions at all. The boy was calm, so completely calm—that was why she was impressed. She'd have never been able to be like that if such things had happened to her. Aside fro the absolute lack of emotions—or rather, alongside—the boy was blank. Totally, completely, utterly, blank, void of.. well, anything, really, perhaps there was a slight flash of curiosity in those lavender eyes when he looked over at them, but otherwise, he didn't show even an ounce of emotion, even as they entered. Just as blank as his mind, she reminded herself. Was this what all people with total amnesia were like at first? Somehow, she wasn't so sure. But what would she know about it?

"Hello again," Haruto smiled, but even Heiko caught the quick look of worry that had crossed his face. Now she was more certain—the boy wasn't suppose to be like this, even with the amnesia. "I've brought you some visitors—these are the two people that rose with you in the ambulance here. This man is Ando Kuwabara, he's the one who found you. And this," the doctor gestures to Heiko, who suddenly felt shy as those empty purple eyes swept over to her. "—is his friend Heiko Shirosaki."

The boy blinked, and nodded shyly back at them. Haruto seemed a bit more pleased at the response and show of feelings, however brief or sudden, and nodded. He motioned for the two young adults to sit down, ,and they both quickly found a chair. The doctor pulled out a clipboard and marked a few things off. "Alright, I have a few matters of importance I need to tell you." The boy only blinked, but Ando and Heiko both sent him nods to continue. "After a thorough examination, before you woke up and after he checked and administered treatment to your head injury, I discovered several concerning things with your breathing pattern, so I looked into it. I found out something rather disturbing an immensely worrying." He peered over the clipboard and the two adults were suddenly nervous all over again.

"What is it?" Heiko asked weakly, once it was clear that neither Ando or the boy were going to speak.

"Emphysema." Haruto told them seriously, and the three blinked at the unfamiliar term. Haruto went on. "One of the diseases that are, collectively, known as COPD, or "chronic obstructive pulmonary disease." Emphysema occurs when the air sacs in your lungs are gradually destroyed, making you progressively more short of breath." Heiko's hands had flown to her mouth sometime in the middle of the explanation, and Ando had began to bit his lip again. The boy didn't react, really. He only continued to stare at the doctor. However, as Haruto went on, the boy's chiseled eyebrows raised ever so slightly. "As it worsens, emphysema turns the spherical air sacs—" At they're looks, Haruto motioned with his hands, the clipboard tucked under his elbow. "They're clustered like a bunch of grapes, see? Anyway, As it worsens, those—the spherical air sacs—are turned into large, irregular pockets with gaping holes in their inner walls. This reduces the surface area of the lungs and, in turn, the amount of oxygen that reaches your bloodstream." Heiko squeezed her eyes shut, and the boy shifted on the bed, finally showing some sings of discomfort, but Haruto went on to explain what they would do about the problem. Ando leaned forward to listen better. "Emphysema also slowly destroys the elastic fibers that hold open the small airways leading to the air sacs. They allow these airways to collapse when you breathe out, so the air in your lungs can't escape. Without this function working properly, you—" he looked at the boy, who was listening in rapture, "—may find it very difficult to breath sometimes, at random moments of any day. There are few symptoms, since this is kind of only a lung problem—that included coughing up blood, which is never a pleasant experience, mind you. That why, for thee treatment, I'm going to give a prescription for these pills—I'm not going to tell you the name right now, you'll most likely only forget it, so we'll label them as R0-VC on the records—and you have to take one every time your chest starts getting too tight for you to breath properly, alright?" They all turned to look at the boy, who only stared at Haruto in silence.

Eventually, after some minutes—they all hoped it was because he was mulling over what he'd just been told—the boy began to nod, excruciatingly slowly. Haruto smiled tightly, a bit sad that such a small, adorable boy had such a tough hand in life. Really, the boy was tiny for his age, which he'd decided, due to the tests, was around either twelve or thirteen—the boy looked to be no older than ten, or a rather small eleven year old. "Okay. I'm sorry to say that the treatment for emphysema only slows the progression of the disease to a crawl where it's almost like it's completely stopped, but it can't reverse the damage. So, and please listen when I say this—you can _never_ stop taking these pills, are we clear?" The boy nodded once, and Haruto let out a sharp, quick sigh. "Alright. I'll go write up the prescription. We'll have to keep you over night for that head injury and until we can get the pills in a issued bottle. Also, I'd like to do a few more check-ups on you just in case. All we need now if a place for you to go—as much as I hate to say it, you can't stay here forever..."

They were all silent, thinking as the boy tilted his head further and examined Ando and Heiko, completely disregarding Haruto now that the doctor was done talking. Haruto let out a soft huff, before slowly turning to the two others himself. "I apologize for asking this of you, but.. would one of you—"

"I'll take him." Heiko suddenly blurted, then blushed as all three male's attention darted to her. "I-I mean.. You know what? He doesn't have anywhere to go, and he doesn't even remember having anywhere to go." She slowly turned her head to look at each one of them in the eyes, even the boy—and this time, she didn't even flinch when those empty violet eyes met hers. When the boy saw this, Heiko thought she caught a flash of interest in those lavender orbs, like the boy was impressed or something. Wit her. Maybe... Maybe she'd done _something_ right...

"...I'll adopt him."

**(-_Pokemon_**~

_**I know I'm suppose to be writing my other stories, but this has been invading my dreams and I just couldn't not think about it at all until I'd at least got the first chapter—which ended up being much longer than I expected, but I'm happy to see it as such—written out. It didn't work. Now the second chapters being written by my brain and I have no way of stopping it. Sometimes I hate my insufferable imagination and muse. **_

_**A few things about this idea. I know it doesn't seem like it, but that boy is Black, and this story is going to mostly fallow the Pokemon Black and White game to the dot, perhaps witch a few—okay, some major things, but not much—changed to fit the characters. I've just.. I mean, at the beginning of the game, you've got to name your character and everything, and Prof Juniper and the "Mom" character are speaking to you like they're introducing an amnesiac to how they'd lived their life before they'd gotten amnesia. I mean, they even introduce you to your friend, Cheren and Bianca. And so, this little idea popped into my head, like, what if, and suddenly, boom, story writes it self. I'm serious, my fingers moved by themselves. In fact, I'm asleep right now. No joke. It's like, 3: 50 in the morning. I'm totally asleep. This is all a dream...**_

_**Anyway, I wanted Black to have some sort of semi-life threatening problem that had him cough up blood regularly unless the precautions were taken beforehand, and boom: Internet search gave me the term "Emphysema." I kinda got lazy a quotes a website word for word since there's not way I'm as smart as Doc Haruto, so I'll give you guys a reference—otherwise, I guess it'd be plagiarizing. It was , under the "Health Information" tab. Handy~**_

_**Right now, I'm still deciding on which starting Pokemon Black(let's call him Kuro)is going to chose. I'm stuck between Tepig or Snivy. Tepig, because I really like fire-type Pokemon, and Snivy, because I chose him and I kind of got attached. I actually chose Oshawott in the start, but I started over and got Snivy instead. Now I'm debating which Kuro will pick in this story. I'm leaning toward Snivy a bit, since Snivy is kind of regarded as the weakest starter, and if Kuro uses him to had all his opponents' asses back to them, it would be hilarious~**_

_**And for those of you unaware, the title, "Kenbosho," is Japanese for "Amneisia."Well, at least, that what Google Translate said. Yeah, I wasn't too creative with that one. I really couldn't think of anything. **_

_**Anyway, big thanks to Choco-bunni for their help in the idea department, even if it was just a little. Now, let's see how many reviews this can get! I;m sitting here wondering if I should continue this, so tell me what you all think! **_

_**Thanks~**_

_**`Scylar X.**_


	2. Exodus

_**Chapter Two: Exodus**_

* * *

"How is Shirosaki-kun now, Heiko-san?" Bianca and Cheren asked immediately after she entered the room. That was always the first thing they said to her when they saw her these days, but she really didn't mind all too much. Whenever she heard the title "Shirosaki-kun," her heart would always take a dive and butterflies would flutter through her chest. That meant her son, he was her _son_. She finally had a child to take care of, to call her own. And the fact that he now shared Eiji's name with her only made it all the better, and Heiko somehow felt that Eiji, somewhere, approved wholeheartedly of this.

She'd named him Kuro—if not only because he wore nothing but black, but also because kids these days were being named after colors all over, and she didn't want her new son to feel left out when he was older and started traveling. Heiko stopped. _Look that that_, she thought. _It's only been a week and I'm already troubling myself over when he'll grow up. Calm yourself, Heiko... Gosh, is this what being a mother is like? I'm going to get wrinkles a lot faster now... _She sighed. "Yes, Cheren. Yes, Bianca—Kuro is doing well. Soon, he'll be able to come outside and play with you!"

The children brightened, apparently satisfied as they soon went back to their game. Cheren and Bianca were around the same age as Kuro was determined to be—which was twelve. Cheren being a newly turned thirteen-year-old, and Bianca being almost twelve as well. She was still eleven right now, but almost there. They thought Kuro would be a good way to even the ages out, since Cheren had always been slightly iffy about playing with a girl _so_ much younger than him. He'd decided that Kuro was the answer, and once Kuro was their best friend as well, the ages wouldn't matter anymore—for some strange reason the adults just couldn't figure out.

Other than that, Cheren and Bianca just simply adored Kuro. Even with his silence and almost complete lack of physical show of emotion, he did seem to fit right in with the two. Now, every day Heiko saw him, Cheren looked more and more like a mature older brother—for Kuro, he'd told them when he was asked(though they thought he didn't need to be any more mature than he was right now, Josept wallowed in despair). Bianca retained her own carefree and untroubled nature, but her eyes gained a slight edge when they were talking about Kuro. Heiko decided either a slightly overbearing little sister in the future, or a small, blossoming crush. Knowing Bianca, it might even be a mixture of both—though she saw more of the sister every day than the signs of a crush.

Speaking of Bianca, her parents really loved Kuro to pieces. Clara almost tried to act like a _second _mother to him—emphasis on the "second," there—and Heiko almost, _almost_, felt slightly jealous. Josept coddled the boy, intent on making him as adorable as his daughter since he'd failed with Cheren, but also because—well, Kuro was pretty cute enough already, even with his lack of feeling.

Heiko turned away from the children and spoke with their parents for a while—about the latest news and town happenings, which inevitably led to Kuro in one way or another.

"So, how is Kuro holding up?" Inoue, who was the mother of Cheren, asked.

"He still not talking?" Micheal, her husband, added in.

Heiko rolled her eyes. "I've said it before, Mike. He's mute, he's not gonna be talking. Maybe a long time into the future we can perhaps look into it, but that's only if Kuro's willing to let us help, which I somehow doubt he will. Despite all the silence and ease at letting use near him to take care of him—he's pretty darn stubborn."

"He'd be talking now, if he wasn't." Josept muttered. Heiko sighed and it him upside the head. "Mute, Josept. It's not his fault."

"I know, I know."He threw up his hands, and Clara dragged him to the kitchen to help her make the children lunch. Heiko stood and said her goodbyes. She'd left Ravi and looking after Kuro since Ando had left for a trip to Opelucid, and she didn't want to leave that teen alone for long, no matter how much she unbelievably trusted him.

The young woman pushed back her dark, honey-colored bangs from her face as she stepped through her front door. She cast her gaze around the entryway before making her way toward the stairs. As she climbed them, Heiko could hear Ravi chatting up a storm, carefree and most likely oblivious to whether anyone was listening to him or not. That said, she held back a smile as she opened the door and stepped into the room she had set up for Kuro.

Admittedly, it wasn't much, but Kuro didn't seem to mind at all. The walls were painted a warm, light gray color, and the ceiling was white while the floor had black tiles. There was a white carpet that covered the half of the floor opposite fro the wall that the bed was against. The bed itself had white sheets and pillows and a solid black, nondescript comforter. Next to the bed was a dark gray side table with a lamp that you could find most likely at any house around Unova. It was white with a chain that you would pull for the light to turn on and off. Next to the lamp sat a regular black alarms clock with red numbers, and a glass of water.

Ravi was sitting in a chair next to the bed, his legs curled up under him. The teen was pretty short for his age, and his tanned skin really stood out in the scheme of the room. He was grinning, as always, and was staring over at the very large flat-screen TV Heiko had dragged into the room after discovering it in the attic—even though she'd found it in such a place, it looked very hi-tech and newly bought. She wondered how it had gotten up there. She'd set up the television on the opposite wall from the bed, and the white carpet was spread out right in front of it.

On the wall opposite from the door, a long window that reached from almost one corner to another sat above a desk that was only half as long as the window, but placed in the center just under it. It had another desk lamp, and a few books on science that Heiko had thought were interesting and had lent to Kuro to read, regretting that she had nothing else. Surprisingly, though, Kuro had accepted the books and had read through them in one night, not even stopping. They sat on the desk now, closed. Somehow, Heiko suspected that they wouldn't be opened again for a long time.

"And how are things in here?" She finally asked after growing tired of listening to Ravi ramble about the show being broadcasted. She felt a bit sorry for leaving Kuro here alone with him, but Kuro didn't even seem to have been listening. Or he had been, avidly. It was a bit hard to tell with the boy—but Heiko decided he hadn't. Ravi wasn't talking about anything interesting anyway.

The teen jerked around and grinned widely. "Ah! Heiko-_chan_~ Didn't see you there! How's your day been, gorgeous?" Kuro raised an eyebrow, but the movement was so minute that Heiko almost hadn't caught it. She smiled anyways, and rolled her eyes at the raven."Ravi, how many times have I told you to stop teasing me like that, huh? I'm older than you—and no, I won't marry you." She added as Ravi went to open his mouth.

He slunk down in his seat. "Aah, but it was worth a shot, ne? Shirosaki-chan really is the best!"

Heiko sighed in exasperation. "Out. Go on, you. Kuro needs to take his medication. Mind getting me the pills? They're on the counter, Oono-san."

The teen jumped to his feet , saluting. "Yes ma'am!" Kuro watched silently as he sped out of the room and down the stairs. Heiko let out another sigh, before looking at her newly adopted son. She walked over and sat at the edge of them bed, feeling only slightly awkward about getting close to him after a week. "How are you feeling today?" Kuro blinked his glittering violet eyes up at her curiously. She placed a hand on her chest in example. "Here?" She lifted her hand off of her torso and placed it on Kuro's own chest. "Is it feeling tight, hun?" She'd started calling him such names a few days ago. It made her happy, and Kuro really didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, it was like he didn't even notice "Right here, can you breath okay?"

Kuro looked down at her hand for a few seconds, watching it rise up and down with his chest, in sync with his breathing. Heiko felt that the breaths were irregular, and raised an eyebrow.

Kuro looked up and shook his head, eyes dimmed as always. Heiko let out a sigh and nodded. "Alright. Just as well, though. I was going to give you your pills anyway."

Kuro nodded just as Ravi came bouncing back into the room. "Here we are!" He sang, smiling. He handed out the pill bottle to Heiko, who nodded her thanks. "Ano... There are some cookies in the pantry, Oono-san. You know where, of course. I made them a few hours ago, help yourself."

Ravi's eyes gleamed. "Ah! Heiko-_chan _really is the best!"

Kuro and Heiko watched the teen exit the room just as quick as he'd entered, and both shook their heads, Kuro however slowly. Heiko turned back toward her son, and beamed at the thought. _Her _son, Kuro was _her _child, now. She couldn't help but think that Eiji would be proud.

"Alright, let's get this over with." She started, handing Kuro the glass of water. She selected two of the red and blue capsules—one half was red and the other blue—and made sure he swallowed them both before screwing the cap back onto the bottle. "I'll leave this up here." She decided, placing the bottle on the bedside table. "I know how forgetful you are of those pills, which won't be good if you decide to travel and become a Pokemon Trainer. Maybe if you have them near you you'll remember."

Kuro only stared at her, before nodding slowly. Heiko nodded back at him and looked over at the television. "101 Ways to Heat a Potato" was on the cooking channel. Heiko picked up the remote and switched it off, turning back to her son. "I'm assuming you don't care about baked vegetables?"

Kuro shook his head, a smile at his lips now. Heiko called that an accomplishment."Alright, then. I'll leave you to it. Maybe I'll find some more books for you to read, yeah?" He nodded. "Okay. Well, it's getting late, so I'm headed of to take a shower and then bed. Tomorrow we can start you on walking again, and Ando-san will be back in a few days." She hesitated slightly, before swooping down and planting a kiss on the boy's forehead. "Goodnight, son."

As she walked out of the room, Kuro stared after her with a strange, almost confused glint in his eyes.

**(-**_**Pokemon**_~

"And this is our Deerling—his name is Horst," Bianca cited proudly as she dragged Kuro by the hand, showing him her father's Pokemon. Cheren followed them close behind, hands shoved in his pockets and observing the black-clad younger boy extremely closing, as an overprotective older sibling would.

It was two weeks now after Kuro had been discovered on the shore. Heiko was well on her way to becoming a superb mother, and Ando was more or less a slightly awkward-in-acting father, give or take. Ravi seemed to be content in being the slightly annoying but well-meaning older brother that didn't really act at all like he was the elder—or a carefree uncle, however you saw it—and Josept and Clara did their best as unofficial godparents.

All in all, Kuro... well, he didn't exactly seem happy, but he never seemed at all unhappy, either, so they all just assumed that he was content and hoped they were correct. It was a bit difficult to tell, though, what with the boy's lack of emotions.

The young blond turned back to her friend. "Oh! And guess what! He has a Ponyota, too! Do you want to see it?" She asked excitedly. Heiko had given Kuro all the books she could find, be they science, history, or even geography—she really only had all her old schoolbooks dating back to the eighth grade and didn't think Kuro would understand most of them. Surprisingly, though it appeared that Kuro had some sort of eidetic memory—it was as if fate was trying to make up for stealing his old ones. Heiko didn't think it was a fair trade, as eidetic memory could be as much of a curse as a gift, she'd heard. In all facts, Kuro had read any book he could get his hands on—was still doing just that every night—and was well-versed in just about any of your common-day topics and some less known facts as well. Pokemon was one of those subjects. The boy gave Bianca a nod and she cheered, dragging him through the front door of her home, Cheren almost running after them.

Kuro said nothing; he only let the girl who had immediately latched onto him and called him best friends the very first moment she laid eyes on him man-handle him over the threshold. Once in the house, however, he let his eyes roam around and take in the scenes. Eventually, as he and Cheren waited back for Bianca to ask her father's permission, the mute amnesiac slouched down a little and hid the lower half of his face in his lavender scarf.

Cheren immediately caught onto his newly proclaimed little brother's behavior and hugged him—which would have been a miracle if it had been anyone other than Kuro, as Cheren wasn't one to touch or make such gestures to anyone but his own mother at rare times; in fact, Cheren had hugged Kuro more times in the past two weeks than he'd ever hugged anyone in his life. It went to say how seriously the older boy took his new, self-proclaimed position as big brother.

"Ne, Otouto," Cheren began hesitantly, and those violet eyes were on him instantly. He swallowed. "You like it here, right? In Nuvema, I mean—Nuvema Town..." He tilted his head, narrowing his navy eyes and set a calculated gaze on the raven haired boy, rectangular glasses flashing in the light. He'd been trying for ages to get Kuro to at least make a sound.

Kuro tilted his head back a little and glanced up at the sky, before looked over and nodding an affirmative. Cheren sighed and released him, grabbing the younger boy and leading him into the house.

"—never be able to! So please, please, _please_, can we?"Bianca was saying, hands clasped before her chest her father and mother stood before her. Clara appeared to be thoughtful, but Josept was all-but scowling.

"Bianca, how many times have I said it? _No_!" Josept expressed, sounding exasperated. He cast a look at his wife, only to meet a leveled stare. He gulped, then looked up to see Cheren and Kuro standing in the entrance. "Ah! Hiya, Kuro!" Josept crowed, lifting a hand and letting it fall onto the raven haired boy's head. Kuro looked up at the man and smiled softly, before tilting his head and pointing at the pokeballs that were resting on the table. Behind Josept's back, Clara and Bianca hid two identical smirks. Cheren held back a chuckle as Josept's eyes flew between Kuro's almost-pout, and the pokeballs—he started to sweat, slightly.

"Eum... What did you want, hm?" The man looked back over at the pokeballs and raised an eyebrow nervously. "What about them?"

Kuro blinked, then tilted his head in the other direction.

"... Well..." Josept looked back at his daughter, and Bianca instantly had her puppy-dog eyes out and glistening. His refusal fell through. "Fine! Alright! But nothing too dangerous! Use Musharna, or—or... Horst!" He exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air. The children cheered—or, Bianca cheered, Cheren smirked triumphantly, and Kuro only blinked, then smiled. Clara laughed behind her hand. "They've got you wrapped around their little fingers, hun."

Josept sighed as he watched his daughter grab the pokeball containing the family Deerling and the three children dashed out of the house."I know, I know..."

"This way, Kuro!" Bianca called as Cheren dragged the boy by his hand. The older boy looked back and smiled. "Yeah! All the more powerful Pokemon are in the tall grass, and the tall grass always grows on this side of the field! C'mon!"

Kuro gazed after them as he allowed Cheren to tug him along. He blinked slowly, and looked around. This was the first time he'd been to this part of Nuvema. It was right at the beginning of Route 1 and he could see the tall grasses sway in the invisible wind. When he looked to the left, he could see the stairs that led down to the shore of the small lagoon sort of space. This was where the ocean kind of came inland a little and formed a small lake. And, just like whenever Kuro saw the sea, he felt some sort of stabbing pain begin in his chest and flit across his heart and mind, swerving around in his head until his face was slightly pale and his breathing was irregular. He didn't like it. And he didn't know why it was there—he was fine around any other source of water, but the ocean...

As he let Cheren pull him along, Kuro took in a breath, surveying the water. The last time he'd been this close to the ocean was when Ando-sama had found him, and he didn't even remember that.

Cheren stopped, as if sensing something. He turned and saw the state Kuro was in, and silently began to berate himself. Everyone in Nuvema knew his adorable little brother was afraid of the ocean, and what did he and Bianca do? They took him closer to the ocean. _Darn it, Cheren! Do something! _

"Ehm, Bianca!" The blond girl turned around and raised an eyebrow at him. "maybe we should just stick to the tall grass closer to the Town?"

Bianca frowned. "What? But why? All the cooler Pokemon are over in the darker grass, over here—everyone knows that!"

Cheren rolled his eyes and nodded his head toward Kuro, who was pressed up against his side, as far from the water as he could be, and was glancing at the ocean with wary purple eyes. Bianca's pink lips formed an "o".

The cheery blond girl bounded forward and caught Kuro in a tight hug, and Cheren instantly formed a small scowl. "It's okay, Kuro-kun! Me and Cheren will protect you from the ocean! It can't hurt you when we're over here anyway!"

Cheren let out a huff. "It's "Cheren and _I_," Bianca—and I really don't think we should go that far, _hey_!" As he'd spoken, Bianca had dragged Kuro over to the tall grass and the two children had disappeared into together. Cheren groaned and followed after as quickly as he could and began to look for them. "Ano... Bianca! Kuro! Otouto! Imouto! Where did you go?" Because as much as he'd tried to venomously deny it, Bianca had become the closet thing to a little sister he had.

The raven-haired pre-teen shook his head and turned around in a circle. _Where could they be?_

As Cheren was searching for the two, Bianca and Kuro were crouched behind a patch of dark grass together, silently observing a wandering Victini that was in the process of searching a mound of berries.

Kuro had his usual emotionless mask on, but Bianca was thunderstruck."Daddy says Victini are pretty powerful—and Ando-san says they are too. Cheren says Victini are Psychic and Fire type Pokemon, and Ando-san says they're Victory Pokemon and can only be found in Liberty garden... I wonder what this one's doing all the way out here..." She looked over at Kuro with wide eyes.

Kuro only tilted his head, and reached into her coat pocket. "Hey, what are y—" He threw something at the Victini, and there was an undignified squawk and a flash of white light. Bianca blinked and narrowed her eyes, before they flew open and her face morphed into a gob smacked expression once the light diminished. "Oi! How did you do that? You caught it without even weakening it first—you didn't even battle it!" By now the girl was forehead-to-forehead with the semi-emotionless boy and her eyes were shining with stars, in a way that almost disturbed him.

"Eto—Kuro! Bianca!" Cheren's voice sounded in their ears, now."Where are you?!" He sounded slightly scared. Bianca froze. "Oh no! We left Cheren all alone!" Kuro decided not to point out that she'd been the one to drag him, and let her grab his wrist once again. "C'mon!"

Cheren was almost afraid now. Neither Bianco nor Kuro had answered any of his calls, and he was beginning to wonder if something had happened to them. He could understand why Kuro wouldn't since the boy was mute, but Bianca should at least be able to call back, right? After all, they couldn't have gone that far, right? Cheren twirled around again and shouted their names. Had they been hurt?

Eventually he was about to give up and go find some adults to help, but there was a rustling sounds and out came Bianca form the tall grass, who was dragging Kuro along behind her. Kuro just looked incredibly bored, but Bianca beamed at him excitedly. "Cheren! Sorry we left you all along—but you won't _believe_ what Kuro did!"

Cheren frowned at her, almost angry. "Bianca! How could you just run off like that!? I was getting worried about you two! Please, can we all stick together next time? One of us could have gotten lost!"He scolded her. Bianca had the decency to look at least a little sheepish at his words, but then she perked up again. "Right, okay. We'll all stay together no matter what. But _Cheren_! Listen!"and the girl told him what had transpired while he was separated form them. While she spoke, Kuro let out a breath and closed his eyes shut tightly. He sat down on a small boulder. When he opened his eyes again, Cheren was staring at him in awe. "Really?" He asked. "You caught a Victini!?" At Kuro hesitant nod, Cheren narrowed his eyes at Bianca. "Are you _sure_ it was a Victini? Maybe it just looked like it?" But even he doubted his own words. Not many Pokemon looked too alike in the sense that you could mistake one for another—but it _did_ happen...

Bianca shook her head. "_Nope_! I know it was Victini! Cuz I listen to you sometimes when you rant and stuff—" Here, she ignored Cheren's glare. "—and I remembered that! It's Victini! Here, look!"

She brought out a Pokemon and pressed the button before Cheren could stop her, and the white light flashed soon with a disgruntled Victini in it's place.

Cheren sucked in a breath. "Yeah.. Wow, that's definitely a legendary Pokemon, Victini! How on earth is it all the way over _here_? I mean, this is Nuvema Town!"

Bianca shrugged. "I don't know. What I do know, though, is that Kuro-kun owns Victini now! Wow, Kuro-kun, you're going to be a real powerful trainer one day, if you keep this up!" She told the obsidian haired twelve year old.

Kuro only smiled, his eyes straying to the ocean. Cheren caught sight some something flashing in those violet orbs, but he couldn't name it. "C'mon," the pre-teen eventually sighed. "It's getting late, and we have to get Deerling back to Mr. Josept."

_**(-Pokemon**_~

"Come on, Ro-chan, Can you at least eat a little?" Heiko let out a sigh."Look I cut up some watermelon—I know that's your favorite... please? It'll make me feel better."

It had almost been an entire year since shed adopted Kuro. And things had finally settled down a few months before. Of course, Kuro still had small-scale attacks every once in a while, like just before now, but he was surrounded by people who cared about him, and who would help him.

The violet-eyes boy reluctantly accepted the bowl filled with small cubes of watermelon, even though Heiko knew he really didn't feel like eating—of course, his mouth had just been full of blood, she wouldn't have wanted to eat either. But she knew that Kuro needed something in his stomach. He hadn't eaten anything the day before, when the attack had occurred.

"You really need to remember to take your pills when your chest starts to hurt, un?" She scolded, and Kuro dipped is head bashfully. He still wouldn't speak, no matter what anyone would do, so they all eventually just let him be in that regard. "I worry a lot when this happens, you know?"

Kuro nodded and, just to settle her fears it seemed, he popped on square of watermelon into his mouth and chewed it with a small smile. Heiko laughed and tousled his hair. "Alright, then. I've got some errands to run, so I'll be back soon, okay?" Kuro nodded. "Ravi is watching TV in the living room if you need anything, and Ando-san is next door helping Josept fix the roof."

Kuro nodded again, and watched as she left his room, silently. That's what happened—everyone was more quiet when they were around Kuro—it was almost instinctual. When you were around Kuro Shirosaki, you just felt the need to do things quieter, whisper if you had to, lower your voice, muffle your footsteps, anything—because the fact that he was mute was so glaringly obvious that you couldn't ignore it, and Kuro—everyone loved Kuro. Maybe if they were more like him he'd pay more attention to them, was the subconscious thought on all their minds, even if they would never notice it, never think such things on their own.

He hated it.

Well, not hated. Hate was much too strong of a word. Kuro Shirosaki didn't necessarily hate anything—he just really disliked some things. He didn't like the fact that people felt the need to be silent when they were around him. He liked it when his friends and family and others surrounded him and were happy and made noise—and he liked it when he could just sit with them all contently, listening to their excited chatter and enjoy the things that made them _them_.

Sure, he liked it when it was quiet, because sometimes the noise would make his head hurt, but the silence, the glances—those made his chest hurt, and _that _was probably the only thing that Kuro hated. The ache in his chest when certain things happened, or when he was in certain places, like the ocean—though he'd gotten over his fear of the sea a while ago, he still felt a little wary—or when people said certain phrases that would make him feel a little off—but he didn't know what that feeling, what that pain was called, and he didn't think he could tell anybody. Kuro would take a headache from the rowdy noise of his friends over that pain in his chest any day of the rest of eternity.

Kuro blinked, and took a bite of his watermelon, before swallowing thickly and setting the bowl on the bedside table. He glanced at it and let out a sigh. It wasn't even half empty yet—Heiko, his _adoptive mother_(sometimes he almost had to remind himself of that), would most likely be slightly disappointed that he hadn't eaten any more.

He snuggled down into the blankets on his bed and closed his eyes, hoping that the headache would go away, and praying that the chest pain wouldn't come to replace it.

His Victini was silent as he was—it had never even made a noise since it had properly met him, save for the few sounds of comfort when he needed them—and curled up into a ball at his side.

_**(-Pokemon**_~

Only a couple of months later, and Kuro was thirteen. It had been an anonymous decision that Kuro Shirosaki's birthday would fall on the date he'd been found on the beach by Ando Kuwabara. Cheren and Bianca were especially excited, since that was also the day that Nuvema Town's own Pokemon Scientist, Professor Juniper, was going to give them their starter Pokemon.

Despite the small fact that Kuro already had a Victini, whose name was Vultri, Juniper was sending him the Pokemon anyway. Vultri was more of a companion than a Pokemon partner—if Kuro had an attack and no one was around, Vultri would escape it's own pokeball and go find help. It said a lot about Vultri and Kuro's relationship that Vultri didn't use it's tricks to escape the pokeball and return the the wild, despite having that chance ever since it's capture. Vultri was extremely protective of Kuro, and no one would have it any other way, specially Vultri itself.

"C'mon, Kuro-kun!" Bianca sang as she dashed into his home. "Where's the box? Is it on the table? Nope!" She turned to him. "Where's the Pokemon Professor Juniper gave you?" She giggled madly and bounced up and down until a pale hand landed on her shoulder and tethered her to the ground. Kuro smiled and Cheren nodded back, a smile that was in equality to a grin on his own face. "Calm down imouto." He told her, before turning back to Kuro. "So? Where are they?" He watch Kuro tilt his head, before the younger boy turned around and started up the stairs without a word—obviously. They followed without hesitation.

Vultri was curled up on the desk when they walked into Kuro's room, right next to a medium-sized boy that sat next to a small stack of books, that Kuro hadn't picked up in months after reading them the first time, due to his eidetic memory.

Bianca began to squeal when she saw the box and rushed over to it, pausing before he had even touched the lid and looking back at the two boys, who stood back and were watching her, uncertainly. "Um... Actually, I think Kuro-kun should go first—after all, it's his house, ne?"

Cheren tilted his head for a moment, before nodding. "Yeah, that seems about right." he turned to his pseudo brother and smiled. "Well? Are you going to open it or not?"

Kuro blinked and raised an eyebrow pointedly, which was almost like a roll of the eyes for him, and Cheren smirked. He raised his own eyebrow, and Kuro shook his head, going over to the box and taking off the lid. Three pokeballs sat inside, waiting. Wasting no time, as was his way(sometimes), Kuro reached in and grabbed the closest one, which turned out to contain a Snivy, which he found out by looking closely into the red side of the ball. He shrugged and looked back up.

Cheren nodded. "Grass type, then. You should balance it out with a water type and gather a few fighting types, since you already have a fire type, which is good. I guess Bianca should go next, then." He motioned for the girl to go ahead.

Bianca tried to be polite and refuse to turn, but her impatient excitement got a hold of her and he rushed over to the box, looking between the two pokeballs, undecided. Kuro and Cheren smiled—or smirked—knowingly at each other.

"I... guess I'll go with Oshawott, then..." the girl nodded and reached down the grab the ball, and smiling as she felt the Pokemon inside shift contently. "Alright Cheren. I guess you get Tepig—you don't mind, do you?" She asked quickly, worried her friend and older brother-type figure would be angry at her.

Cheren rolled his eyes and pushed his glasses up a bit since they had began to slip forward. "No, Bia-chan, I don't. I know Tepig's weaknesses and strengths anyway, and I'll be able to utilize them to my advantage in a battle. He's a strong Pokemon, in the least, just as strong as Oshawott or Snivy if you know how to use him." He picked up the last pokeball and tapped the top in apology. "No offense, little guy." The Tepig glared up at him and huffed, rolling his beady little eyes. A moment later, the Pokemon nodded in acceptance, and Cheren smiled. Kuro tilted his head as Cheren looked up at them.

"Let's be the strongest Pokemon trainers in Unova." He told them, suddenly, looking determined. Bianca blinked, before brightening."Yeah! We'll be the best! Whaddya say, Kuro-kun? I bet you'll be the strongest of us three, but we'll all be at the top, right?" She smiled, and Kuro nodded, smiling slightly.

"Great!"The girl cheered, before her eyes widened and she looked back at the violet-eyes boy. "Burt first, Kuro-kun—let's have a Pokemon battle!"

Kuro blinked, taken slightly aback, but Cheren spoke before he could reply in any way. "Where, _here_?"The older boy sounded skeptical. "You can't fight a Pokemon _battle inside_, silly imouto. Pokemon battles are sometimes highly destructive. You don't want to put Kuro-kun's room into ruin, do you?"

Bianca blanched. "No! I wouldn't ever! But really," she rolled her eyes ,"it can't be that bad, and you just said _sometimes_, so we should be fine in here, right?"

Kuro raised an eyebrow, and the blond girl blushed slightly. Cheren sighed. "Who knows more about this stuff than you, imouto?"

"...You." Bianca grumbled.

"That's right," Cheren pushed his glasses up his nose, as they were sliding down again. "And who had done extensive reading on this very subject and had a clearer idea of what could happen?"

Bianca rolled her eyes. "_You_."She paused for a second, tilting her head, and continued. "And Kuro-kun..."

Cheren blinked, then nodded. "Yes, correct. So, who should you really listen to on this?"

"You,"Bianca huffed. "And Kuro-kun."

"So we should take this _outside_."

Bianca looked at Kuro, who nodded.

"_Fine_..."she sighed, Then she perked back up and skipped out of the room.

Cheren and Kuro exchanged glances before following after her.

_**(-Pokemon**_~

"Oshawott, use Focus Energy!" Bianca called. They were now in Kuro's front yard. This was going too fast—Kuro was just so amazing at Pokemon battles, even better than Cheren might be, even though she hadn't tested that theory. Maybe if she bid her time right, she could get in an attack and—

Kuro sent his Snivy a look. Wordlessly, the Snivy somehow managed to translate the words into a command, just as Vultri had learned to do only days after Kuro had caught it. Snivy dashed forward and used Vine Whip and effectively defeated her Oshawott, which fainted and was returned to it's pokeball. Bianca sat in the grass, a little bummed out that she'd lost, while Kuro and Cheren stared at her silently. She looked up, Snivy looked a little smug that he'd won, but she knew that all Snivy, and their evolutions, appeared like that. This Snivy almost looked a little apologetic that he'd won."It's okay, Kuro-kun is a strong Pokemon Trainer." She told the Snivy, who nodded, apparently happy. "I'll win, pone day," she smiled at her friend, who nodded back with a smile, "Kuro-kun."

"But!"She jumped back up, hugging Oshawott's pokeball to her chest. "From this battle, I now know what to name my Oshawott! He's a boy, and I know just what to call him," She smiled down at her Pokemon Partner, who was just waking up. Oshawott lifted it's paws to the inside of the ball and peered up at her. "I'm going to nickname him Ekitai."

"...Liquid?" Cheren raised an eyebrow. "How... creative." Bianca stuck her tongue out at him—the Oshawott seemed happy with his nickname anyway. "So, what are you guys going to name your Pokemon?" She asked.

"I'm going to call my Tepig Moesashi, which means "ember," He'll be the spark that starts the fire that will signify my rise to being a great Pokemon Trainer." Cheren replied, and his Tepig, which was out of it's pokeball and lounging in his lap, seemed to swell with pride at it's new name. "Kuro?" He turned to his proclaimed little brother. Kuro came over and fell to the ground next to him, pulling his knees to his chest. His outfit had changed a little over the year since they'd met him. He now wore black cargo pants, and a black wrap-around tunic that had gray trim and the Pokemon symbol on the left chest. His Trainer hat was black as well, with another gray Pokemon symbol on the front, and his feet were covered in black combat boots with gray laces and heel. He slipped a hand into one of the pockets of his pants and pulled out a small notepad and reached up to take the navy blue mechanical pencil that he always had tucked behind his right ear. Cheren leaned over to read what he wrote, and watched the letters form in Kuro's neat, beautiful handwriting. Bianca bounced up and read over the boys' shoulders. "Kizoku? Well," She looked down at the Snivy that perched on Kuro's shoulder. "He sure looks like a noble." The Snivy appeared to stand straighter. "Guess he likes it."

Kuro nodded and looked over at Cheren. His expression seemed to ask the older boy "Now what?"

Cheren sat up, stowing Moesashi back in his pokeball. "Let's make it a game." he told them. Bianca and Kuro tilted their heads. "A game?" The blond girl asked. "Make what a game?"

"Well,"he started, "We've already got instructions from Professor Juniper, and she's given us those Pokedex—now all we got to do is start our journey and challenge the gym leaders, making our way to the Pokemon League to beat the Elite Four, and eventually the champion—if we really do wanna be the best of the best, like we said." He looked them both in the eyes. "Since we've finally got Bianca's dad to let her become a Pokemon trainer—that took me and her years in trying, Kuro. I bet it was my cute little otouto's adorable face that really got him to agree—" Kuro thought it had more to do with the man's wife, Clara, than anything, but he decided not to mention anything."All we got to do is go over to Route 1 and start catching Pokemon, Then we'll level them up until we think we're strong enough to challenge the first gym leader when we get to the next city over."

"Wow, you've really planned this all out." Bianca told him, slightly awed. Kuro smiled. "So, I getcha—but what "game" are you talking about?"

"Well, lets all meet up at the beginning of Route 1 tomorrow morning, and spend today catching Pokemon. Then, we'll compare and whoever has the most Pokemon caught tomorrow when we meet, wins the game!"

Bianca tilted her head to the side and grinned. "Yeah, that sounds fun! You up for it, Kuro-kun?"

Kuro blinked, and thought the idea over for a few seconds before agreeing."Great! Let's start now, yeah?" She asked.

"Sounds good. I'll see you both tomorrow morning. "Cheren said. "Ano, otouto?" Kuro turned back to look at him. "Can you ask your mother to pack us three breakfast, lunch, and dinner for tomorrow? Shirosaki-san's food is the best, and that would be a great way to have our first day as Pokemon Trainers."

"Oh, yeah! Please, Kuro-kun?" Bianca pleaded—though they all knew it wasn't needed, as Kuro had already began to nod. "Yay! Thanks!"She cried, hugging him. Then she released him and leaped away, running for her house. "See you two tomorrow!"

"And you, Kuro-kun!" Cheren nodded, before walking off towards his own home, most likely to get some empty pokeballs. Kuro gazed after his two closest friends before disappearing back into his own home.

He wondered who would win this "game" tomorrow.

_**(-Pokemon**_~

Kuro hugged his mother one last time before tightening his scarf around his neck. Heiko was getting a little teary-eyed now, so he had decided it was time to go. He leaned down to grab the handle of the backpack Heiko had filled with food(she'd gotten a little into cooking, at last, after she'd taken him in—you could say that the whole of Nuvema Town had been grateful for that simple fact) and smiled as he straightened back up.

"Oh, Ro-chan," Heiko sniffed. "I can't believe you're leaving already!" She wiped at her eyes again and kept her hands up, on either side of her face and pressing over her mouth and she smiled.

Kuro nodded, strapping the backpack onto his back before bringing his hands forward to tell her, Don't worry. It's not like I won't come back again. I promise to visit frequently. Kuro, Heiko, and many of the others in Nuvema Town had learned sign language together so Kuro could speak with them.

Heiko nodded. "I-I know, but.. You've only been here for just a few years! And they passed by so fast!" She lurched forward and wrapped her arms around him. Kuro looked behind her and saw Ando leaning against the door frame that lead into the living room. He had a small smile on his face—like a master finally seeing his apprentice off. That was what it was, in a way. After all, Ando had taught Kuro everything he knew about Pokemon Battles. Kuro sent the young man a thankful smile and signed behind Heiko back and she clung to him—I'll see you again soon, right?

Ando's smile widened, if only slightly, and he sent the short pre-teen a nod.

Kuro felt almost relieved. At least Ando with be with them on some parts of their journeys—plural, as he had a feeling that he, Cheren, and Bianca would split up sooner or later, even if they didn't realize. Good. I'm glad. Thank you for everything you've done and will do.

Ando watched Heiko sniffle into Kuro's shoulder for a bit, before signing back. Please do not forget anything I've taught you, hai?

Kuro shook his head slightly, careful not to disrupt his mother.

Then I'm sure I'll see you very soon. Ando grinned a bit—and Kuro felt accomplished. He loved it when he could make Ando smile. He just wished the man, or his mother, would gather up the guts to finally confess their feelings to each other. He knew they would be happier together than right beside one another but separated. He somehow knew that that was painful. He wondered if that lingering feeling was something left over from the life he'd lived before. He smiled back at Ando and their silent conversation was broken when Heiko released him from the hug. Kuro quickly hugged her back and waved, before walking out the door.

"Come back _soon_, do you hear?" Heiko shouted after him, and Kuro almost grinned, waving again over his shoulder.

It took him a few minutes to make it to the small intersection, where the stairs that led down to the sea lagoon were on the left, and the tall grass was on your right. Route 1 welcomed you as you stepped forward—but he didn't step forward yet. He looked in his bag to confirm the presence of his Patrat, Purrlion, and Lillipup, which he'd caught yesterday, before joining Cheren and Bianca; who he saw a few feet ahead of him. They were speaking in low tones. Bianca looked up quickly and caught sight of him.

"Kuro-kun!" She waved excitedly. "Come over here! How many Pokemon did you catch?"

Kuro reached into his bag and brought out the three pokeballs, and both Cheren and Bianca groaned.

"Darn. You won!" Cheren exclaimed. "Both of us only caught two since we parted yesterday."

"Yeah," Bianca told him, sounded a little put out, but she brightened quickly enough. "I got one Purrlion and a Patrat. Cheren's got a Patrat and a Lillipup."

"I'm a bit happy about that," The raven-haired boy admitted. "I've heard that the Lillipup's final evolution is pretty strong. I guess that the Patrat is the easiest to catch, since we all have one."

"Either that, or we're all really awesome Pokemon Trainers," Bianca cheered, and Kuro smiled at her, tilting his head.

"Bianca wants us to travel to the first gym together—"

"I wanted us to do the _whole journey_ together, all the way to the Pokemon league!" Bianca pouted, glaring at Cheren, and Kuro almost chuckled.

Cheren shook his head. "I don't think that's going to happen. After all, we won't get stronger if we grow to rely on each other. We could meet up in some places, or call using the transceivers, but other than that? I think I'm good. I want to get strong on my own, not with help."

Don't be like that. Kuro signed to him, and Cheren's eyes immediately zeroed in on the hand movement and translated them into words, like he'd trained himself and Bianca to do when Kuro wanted to tell them something. Sometimes you need help, ne? The best thing to do is acknowledge that fact, and accept the help when it comes.

Cheren sighed. "Right, I know..." He looked at Kuro for a moment, then frowned. "I guess one of us should go with you, though. I mean, what if you need help? What if you have an attack? What if you need to talk to someone but they don't know Sign language?" The boy was now clearly panicking, even if just a little. Kuro laid a hand on Cheren's shoulder and sent him a look. Cheren froze. "Ah, right. You can take care of yourself... But—you always forget about your pills! I need to be there to remind you! Or Bianca!"

"Oh, he'll be fine, Cheren-nii!" Bianca waved her hand dismissively. "I'm sure he'll find someone for that. Kuro-nii's just like that. Everyone loved Kuro-kun, they gravitate to him—he's like a cuddle magnet. How can you deny a cute face like that?" Kuro blushed, and Cheren grinned. "Yeah, you're right. I was worrying for nothing. But," she leveled a serious look at Kuro, "you best take a pill now, at least, in case you forget later. And then take one whenever your chest feels tight or starts to hurt—isn't that what Dr. Haruto said?"

Kuro nodded, taking out his medication and popping one pill into his mouth, swallowing it dry. Both Cheren and Bianca shuddered. "I don't know how you can do that," the blond girl told him. "I always have to drink mine, swallow it with water."

"Me too," Cheren agreed. "It feels weird without water."

"Hey, that reminds me, did your mom pack us some food?" Bianca bounced forward. Kuro tilted his head for a moment, before shoving the backpack on his shoulder over at her. She grabbed it with obvious delight. "Yay!"

Soon, each pre-teen was ful and ready for adventure. The three stood side by side and looked out over Route 1. Bianca looked over at her friends. "I know this is kinda cliché, but can you please just in... indul... um—"

"Indulge in you?" Cheren smiled.

She grinned. "Yeah."

Kuro looked over at her, and the two boys nodded. "Okay," the girl told them. "One, two, three—!"

As one, they all brought one foot forward and stepped onto Route one, officially beginning the first leg of their journey to becoming the strongest Pokemon Trainers Unova Region has ever seen.

_**(-Pokemon**_~

_**For you, Choco. I'm sorry this took so darn long T^T I didn't predict my sister coming over and spending every minute of the week with me. We did stuff... Like, living. Doing stuff, indulging in actual **_**Life****_—the horror~!_**

_**By the way, please go onto DeviantART ad check out the pictures that Choco-Bunni and I have collaborated on! They're all for **_**Kenbosho****_—fanart, if you will—and they're amazing!_**

_**Anyway, here you all are. I hope I didn't do too terribly on it~!**_

_**Please Read it and Review! I wanna know if I should actually continue!**_

_**With love,**_

_**Scylar X.**_


End file.
